Follow us

Account

ASIA: TV: THE LOCAL IMPERATIVE - It has taken the best part of a decade for foreign broadcasters in Asia to realise that what the masses want is local content. Michael Cooper investigates

Asia’s regional broadcasters have discovered - somewhat belatedly -
that local content is the key to growth. It’s a fact of life that people
are most interested in what’s happening closest to them. It is likely,
for example, that many of the people reading this article will do
business regularly in Asia, or at least be intending to start. I call
this ’the wardrobe syndrome’, an expression I stole from an English
media executive with whom I used to work when I first arrived in Asia
more than 11 years ago.

Asia’s regional broadcasters have discovered - somewhat belatedly -

that local content is the key to growth. It’s a fact of life that people

are most interested in what’s happening closest to them. It is likely,

for example, that many of the people reading this article will do

business regularly in Asia, or at least be intending to start. I call

this ’the wardrobe syndrome’, an expression I stole from an English

media executive with whom I used to work when I first arrived in Asia

more than 11 years ago.

This young woman came from a small village near Manchester. Her brother

took a six-month trip around the world concentrating on Asia,

backpacking extensively through Micronesia, Borneo and the Philippines

as well as visiting the more traditional attractions of Thailand,

Singapore and Hong Kong. On his return, he went down to his local pub

and met up with his mates. They all eagerly asked him about his trip. He

launched into a detailed description of all the exotic places he had

visited, the sights he had seen and the many fascinating people that he

had met.

After he had been talking for about 15 minutes he became aware that his

friends’ eyes were glazing over. A minute later, one turned to the other

and said: ’I bought that wardrobe I was telling you about.’

The brother realised that his friends weren’t really interested in

hearing about the trip. It was outside their sphere of experience and

rather irrelevant. Perhaps they found the idea of all these strange

places threatening because of their unfamiliarity and remoteness.

This story simply serves to illustrate what everyone already knows. News

is more interesting when it’s from your own home, entertainment is more

relevant and fun in your own language, music tends to be more popular

when it’s local. All of these are, of course, sweeping generalisations,

but in the business of mass media what the masses want can make the

difference between success and failure.

Amazingly, the regional satellite and cable broadcasters who have been

setting up shop in Asia over the past ten years seem to have taken a

long time to grasp this elementary fact. They singularly failed to

understand that consumers predominantly want local content, or at least

a localised version of foreign content.

Between 1991 and 1996 there was an invasion of foreign broadcasters into